Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO arrested on federal sex trafficking charges

Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man were arrested Tuesday on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, a spokesperson for federal prosecutors said.

Details of the criminal charges weren’t immediately available. They follow sexual misconduct allegations, made in civil lawsuits and the media, from young people who said Jeffries lured them with promises of modeling work and then pressed them into sex acts.

Jeffries’ attorney, Brian Bieber, said by email he would “respond in detail to the allegations after the indictment is unsealed, and when appropriate, but plan to do so in the courthouse — not the media.”

Jeffries and his partner, Matthew Smith, were arrested in Florida and were due to make an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon in West Palm Beach. Co-defendant James Jacobson was arrested in Wisconsin; there was no immediate information on a court appearance.

Information on attorneys for Smith and Jacobson wasn’t immediately available.

Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace and FBI and police officials were set to hold a news conference later Tuesday.

Jeffries became CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch in 1992 and left in 2014. The New Albany, Ohio-based company declined to comment on his arrest.

One lawsuit filed in New York last year accused Abercrombie of allowing Jeffries to run a sex-trafficking organization during his 22-year tenure. It said that Jeffries had modeling scouts scouring the internet for victims, and that some prospective models became sex-trafficking victims.

Abercrombie last year said it had hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation after a report on similar allegations was aired by the BBC.

The BBC investigation included a dozen men who described being at events involving sex acts they said were staged by Jeffries and Smith, often at his home in New York and hotels in London, Paris and elsewhere. The BBC report described Jacobson as a middleman who recruited men for the events.

When the lawsuit was filed in New York last year, Bieber declined to comment on the allegations.

Abercrombie & Fitch traces its roots to a hunting and outdoors goods store that was founded in 1892. By the time Jeffries arrived a century later, the brand was a retail also-ran.

He was credited with transforming it into a darling of turn-of-the-millennium teen mall culture, known for its nouveau-preppy aesthetic — and for some controversy surrounding it. Jeffries alienated some customers by talking about how the company went after attractive kids who could fit into its clothes.

After the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession, A&F’s popularity started to fade again. By the time Jeffries left, a hedge fund had pushed the company’s board to replace him because of the company’s lagging performance.

But the company has rebounded in recent years.